Plane problems of an arbitrary array of cracks emanating from the edge of an elliptical hole

Abstract This paper presents a unified analysis of interaction problems of an elliptical hole and an arbitrary array of internal cracks as well as edge cracks including kinked cracks and branched cracks. The analysis is based on the body force method, in which new expressions of the body force densities and resultant force boundary conditions are introduced in order to improve the accuracy and applicability. Numerical calculations are performed for various problems of practical imoportance, and the stress intensity factors are given in dimensionless forms. The analysis also covers the problems of a semi-infinite plate containing an arbitrary array of cracks just by assuming a large aspect ratio of the elliptical hole.